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Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Memphis’
Bikeway & Pedestrian Program Manager is working to make our streets better
and safer for everyone
By:Michael Lander

Nicholas Oyler (who prefers to go by Nick) is originally
from Germantown, Tenn. He graduated from the
University of Memphis and received a Master's
Degree at Texas A&M in urban planning, which he
pursued because of his love for Memphis and he
wanted to make the city an even better place to live.

Any one of us is capable of changing the world for the better and making life
better for others.Nicholas Oyler would like to
do that in Memphis.

Oyler is Memphis’ Bikeway & Pedestrian Program Manager.It is a position that he has held since Sept.
6, 2015.

Wagenschutz was the first Bikeway & Pedestrian Program Manager for the city
when he was hired in September 2010 by former Memphis Mayor A.C. Wharton.

During Wagenschutz’s tenure, the city laid the groundwork in developing and
implementing the first bike and pedestrian-related programs and facilities, and, in less than half a decade, it drastically transformed our city, and it was recognized, nationally, for the tremendous amount of progress that it had made.

After stepping into the job that Wagenschutz vacated in 2015, Oyler hit the
ground running and has shown that he is eager to make even greater progress and
improvements on behalf of the pedestrians and cyclists in our city.

In order to accomplish all that he hopes to, Oyler has set three goals for
himself.

“The first, and one of my biggest goals for me, is to make all of our streets safer.Since coming into this job, I have tried to
focus on accommodating the needs and the safety of pedestrians and cyclists in
our city,” Oyler said.

“People fail to realize that our roads are a public place and, collectively,
they are our largest public places and they are three times the size of that of
Shelby Farms Park,” he said.

Oyler loves cycling, but he considers himself to be more of
an utilitarian cyclist and he is much more interested in
riding to get around than in racing or trying to ever
compete at it.

“Unfortunately, our roads in Memphis are a public place that are not as safe as
they need to be.There are about 100 traffic-related
deaths on them each year.If over
hundred people died at a public place like Shelby Farms Park each year, there
would be in an uproar about it.The
attitude that this number of deaths on our roads is just a risk that we must
live with isn’t really any more acceptable than it would be if they occurred in
Shelby Farms Park,” Oyler added.

The second goal that Oyler wants to accomplish is filling in the missing gaps with
our bike lanes by connecting some of the existing bike lanes that we already
have.

“We presently have a disconnected patchwork of bike lanes and I would like to
change that and to fill in those gaps so that they will be a better network for
those who need them,” Oyler said.

“We are currently on track to have a total of 400 miles of bike facilities, which includes shared lanes and greenways, by the
end of this year.One of these will
include a protected bike lane on Dr. M.L. King Jr.Blvd. to downtown on Cooper north of Central Ave.This will go from midtown to downtown Memphis.I especially want to target my efforts on
those who don’t currently feel safe walking or riding on our city streets,” he added.

This bicycle stand is one of several around the city of
Memphis. This one is located outside the front doors
of City Hall where Oyler works.

The third goal for Oyler is to find funding the Pedestrian and School Safety Action Plan. As of right now, there is not
a dedicated funding source allocated for this.
In addition to these goals, Oyler would like to help people to overcome any
resistance that they might have concerning bike lanes.

“We have some people who don’t recognize the greater benefits, like the
traffic-calming effects, that can come from decreasing or narrowing car lanes to accommodate
bike lanes. Instead of focusing on any potential, momentary delay
that this might causein getting somewhere, we should also consider the associated safety benefits,” Oyler said.

“It’s been proven time and time again that if we make the roads safer for
pedestrians and cyclists, you make them safer for everyone else,” he said.

“Part of the problem for us is that we are living in a car-dominated society
with cities that have been built in such a way that traveling by car is about
the only way to get around and people are entrenched in this way of thinking
and believing that this is the only way that it can ever be,” he added.

Oyler thinks that it will take some time, but that people will eventually come
around on this.

“The us (cyclists and pedestrians) verses them (drivers) mindset will take some
time to change, but it is something that will eventually happen.We’re beginning to see this trend throughout
the country and where this has happened, people have come to realize that things
have improved and been made safer for everyone because of it,” Oyer said.

Sara Studdard is the project manager for the Explore Bike
Share Program at doug carpenter & associates, LLC.
Oyler is a staunch proponent of things like the bike
share program, which help to provide various
options in transportation for Memphis area residents
and those who come to visit our city.

Oyler believes that Memphis has made great strides and he is excited about some
of the things, like the Explore Bike
Share Program, that will be rolling out in 2017.

“I think that the Explore Bike Share Program is great and it is something that
will allow Memphis the opportunity to really leap forward after it is fully
implemented.The program will be
especially beneficial in neighborhoods that have residents with a limited means
of transportation and it should allow people to not have to rely exclusively on
only one form of transportation or on a bus schedule,” Oyler said.

“I expect some people may try the bikes out just because of curiosity and I
think that they will find out that they will like and enjoy it.This should get more people out riding bikes
and this will eventually help to create interest and momentum and will
ultimately be a part of a safer infrastructure that I envision for everyone,”
he said.

“There will be some exciting news and updates that will be coming out this year
concerning the bike share program and I am optimistic that, with that, and some
other things that will be occurring this year, that 2017 will be a great year
for pedestrians and cyclists in Memphis,” he added.

One of those things includes a major announcement by the city, in late January, that Memphis had been selected as one of 10 cities in the country to have been chosen for the Big Jump Project from PeopleforBikes, which is a national bicycle advocacy organization.

Other cities invited to participate include Portland, Austin, New York, and Los Angeles. The three-year grant aims to boost the number of people riding bikes in a city's chosen focus area by two or three fold.

Oyler and his colleagues settled on the South Memphis area, including the southern portion of downtown, as Memphis' focus area.

Oyler said that he hopes to take the lessons originally learned in South Memphis and eventually apply them to the city as a whole.

For cyclists, Oyler also see other great things in store for them in the year
ahead.

Sara Studdard, from doug carpenter & associates, LLC., and
Kyle Wagenschutz, from PeopleforBikes, host the Bike
Nerds podcast on Oamaudio.com. Wagenschutz was
Memphis' first Bikeway & Pedestrian Program Manager
before Oyler took the helm on Sept. 6, 2015.

“An extension of the Hampline
will be breaking ground and it will be open for use in the fall of this
year.This will go where the Shelby Farms Greenline currently terminates atTillman to Overton Park,”
Oyler said.

Beyond 2017, Oyler believes cyclists will find other great things coming to our
river city.

“There is a long-term plan to extend the trails west of the Big
River Crossing and Second Street will have a new bike and
pedestrian access in the next few years.The protected bike lanes already installed on Crump and Danny Thomas will also have new connections added.In addition to that, one of the long-term
plans that I am really excited about is one that will put in protected bike
lanes on Jefferson Ave. from Danny Thomas to Cleveland Street,” Oyler said

After a setback for having bicycle lanes put down onRiverside
Drive in April 2016, Oyler said that cyclists will soon have another chance
to show their support for this.

“There will be an opportunity for public input this year regarding a proposal to add protected bike lanes on the full length of Riverside Drive. I believe that this new proposal goes above and beyond in addressing the concerns that were often heard during the pilot project. If anyone
is interested in seeing bike lanes on Riverside Drive, I encourage them to
attend any meetings for this and to speak up,” Oyler said.

“It’s important for the public to get involved, to stay involved, and to speak
up and let their elected officials know how they feel. As public employees, we in City Hall respond to the public's desires,” he said.

Oyler is a downtown Memphis resident who either walks or
who tries to take some form of transit instead of relying
exclusively on a motor vehicle to get around.

“There are other valid issues,” Oyler said, “like crime, education, and so on that do
compete for the time and attention of the city and its leaders and funding
availability is based on what the public determines is a priority.If people believe that having much safer
streets for everyone is something that they want to have, it can be made to be
a priority.”

While funding can sometimes be an obstacle to making progress, Oyler believes
that it is even more important for Memphians to have the vision for something
better and to start working toward it.

“There are places where walking and riding bikes are not just an accepted and a
viable form of transportation, but they are something that is integrated into
everyday life.I believe that this can
be a vision for us in Memphis and something that can be a reality for us one
day.Such a transformative change won’t
happen overnight, but it can happen, if we really want it,” Oyler said.

With Oyler leading the charge for change, he hopes to help make the world and
life even better, at least for those living in or visiting Memphis.

About Me

I am a long-time resident of Memphis, Tennessee. I had a long active duty military career and I am now a student at the University of Memphis. I am married to a native Memphian who is a retired Memphis City School teacher. When I am not busy, or in school, you will likely find me out riding my bike or jogging around my East Memphis neighborhood. If you would like to learn more of my passion for cycling, you can follow me on twitter at - https://twitter.com/memphiscyclist, or you can check out my cycling website - http://memphiscyclist.com. If you have any questions or comments about my blogs, my website or about Memphis cycling, please feel free to contact me at mikel5061@yahoo.com.